The Trail Went Cold - Episode 492 - The Adelaide Oval Abductions and the Beaumont Children, Part 2

August 25, 1973 Adelaide, Australia. While attending a football match at the Adelaide Oval stadium alongside their respective families, 11-year old Joanne Ratcliffe and four-year old Kirste Gordon leave their seats to go to the toilet together, but never return. After Joanne and Kirste are reported missing, numerous eyewitnesses report having seen them in the company of a middle-aged man wearing a wide-brimmed hat and since the two girls appeared to be in distress, they were likely the victims of an abduction. Over the years, a number of known pedophiles are looked at as potential suspects in the case, but there is not enough evidence to implicate any of them, so Joanne and Kirste are never found.

On last week’s episode, we presented Part One of our series about the 1966 disappearance of the Beaumont children. This week, we will not only conclude our series about the Beaumont case, but also explore another unsolved Australian mystery known as the “Adelaide Oval Abductions” and look into the possibility that these two missing children’s cases are connected.

Additional Reading:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Joanne_Ratcliffe_and_Kirste_Gordon

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/on-the-40th-anniversary-of-the-disappearance-of-joanne-ratcliffe-and-kirste-gordon-family-reveal-new-connections-to-murderer-bevan-spencer-von-einem/news-story/c5449152bfe324dd65b4bead5fcc7fc1

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/cold-case-fresh-leads-in-1973-adelaide-oval-abduction-links-key-suspect-to-abandoned-prospect-home-with-an-underground-bunker/news-story/a20c5f0e8db7de5c81c22ff316971a30

https://www.nine.com.au/tv-shows/joanne-ratcliffe-kirste-gordon-abduction-adelaide-oval-mystery-breakthrough-under-investigation-20221031-p5rcy0.html

https://www.nine.com.au/australia-news/adelaide-oval-abduction-1973-sister-joanne-ratcliffe-kirste-gordon-20230823-p5yuqz.html

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-25/joanne-ratcliffe-and-kirste-gordon-disappeared-50-years-ago/102770974

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-29/search-for-clues-linked-to-kirste-gordon-and-joanne-ratcliffe/105112146

https://www.womensweekly.com.au/news/real-life/joanne-ratcliffe/

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/coldcases/top-cops-stern-words-in-private-search-for-joanne-ratcliffe-and-kirste-gordon-50-years-after-disappearance/news-story/c2c53d53603c3039b96c8f2a3d689220

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-10/bones-found-in-yatina-search-not-human/106325728

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_the_Beaumont_children

https://www.news.com.au/national/crime/parents-of-beaumont-childrens-tortured-wait-goes-on/news-story/fb533bc2a34d59bacea04713d1b03732

https://www.theage.com.au/technology/one-man-so-many-faces-of-evil-20070422-ge4pv0.html

https://www.theage.com.au/national/suspected-mass-child-killer-is-buried-with-his-secrets-at-90-20020722-gduf0t.html

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/police-courts/allan-max-mcintyre-who-was-linked-to-the-disappearance-of-the-beaumont-children-in-1966-has-died/news-story/aa23bce2ce29b65a9182a81cb5f18ef5

https://www.news.com.au/national/south-australia/exscout-master-anthony-allan-munro-jailed-for-repulsively-evil-abuse-of-boys-from-1965-to-1983/news-story/e75963cb928358a9487460a13a3deb12

https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/state/sa/2018/01/22/new-search-beaumont-children

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/beaumont-children-mystery-harry-phipps-angry-son-says-his-father-did-not-kill-the-children/news-story/173bda07a90ba4a450e8f154921bddf6

https://www.nine.com.au/australia-news/beaumont-children-grandfather-was-involved-in-disappearance-says-grandson-20180201-p5w63x.html

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02-10/beaumont-children-search-at-former-castalloy-factory-site/104917216

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-01/dig-for-beaumont-childrens-remains-concludes/104997388

“The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing at AdvocacyCon, which is taking place at the Albuquerque Convention Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico on September 11-13, 2026. To get a 10 % discount on tickets, please use our specialized promo code, “TRAILCOLD10”, by visiting https://www.advocacycon.com/.

“The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon. Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content.

The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.